Robbery in Progress
by nherbie
Summary: Deeks stops at the bank on the way into work. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

I own nothing in the NCIS world although I can dream.

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Chapter 1

Deeks tapped his foot impatiently, looking at his watch for about the thousandth time. God, he hated waiting in line. Why weren't they moving? Leaning to his left a little, he looked towards the teller bank. The only two tellers were still helping the same people they had been for the last five minutes, what was the hold up? He could hear the guy on the left arguing with the teller over a fee they were trying to charge him. The woman at the other window seemed to be paying her bills for the next decade, one money order at a time. He looked at his watch again. Crap, he was going to be late for work now. He'd better text Kensi and let her know he where he was, tell her to pass it on to the team. He hadn't carpooled with her this morning as he had a meeting with Bates at the precinct later in the afternoon and he was going directly home from there. He hadn't wanted to hold up her leaving tonight if things went long. He'd hoped he would be in and out of the bank quickly. Not so much. Pulling out his phone he started texting.

 _Hey babe. I'm running late. Could you let everyone know? I'm standing in a freaking long line at the bank. It hasn't moved in like hours! ARGH!_

His phone pinged with an incoming text almost immediately:

 _You didn't mention stopping at the bank when you left this morning. Everything ok?_

 _Yep. Didn't realize I was so low on cash until I stopped for coffee. Had to run back out to the car to scrounge up enough change to pay for it!_

 _Why didn't you just go to the ATM?_

 _I DID! Stupid machine ate my stupid card. Now I have no money and no way to get any, other than standing in the line from hell!_

 _Ok, cu when u get here. XXOO_

Deeks smiled. He never thought he would see the day when Badass Kensi Blye ended a text with hugs and kisses. Of course, if he told anyone, she'd deny it to her dying breath. The line finally moved forward a few inches. He looked up to see Mr. "I'm not paying that fee" walking past talking on his phone. As he passed where Deeks was standing he could hear him complaining about being robbed at the bank. He sighed; hopefully the line should now start moving as at least one teller had been freed up. He hopped from foot to foot, earning him a look from the woman in front of him. He smiled apologetically and tried to stand still. God, standing in one place for too long made him feel like ants were crawling all over his skin! Moving was the only option. He tried moving just his upper torso but that just didn't seem to work. He needed to engage his mind. Staring around at the people in the bank, he started a guessing game with himself as to what their lives were like.

The sweaty guy in the three piece suit with the balding head? Accountant with a much younger wife who he was pretty sure was cheating on him. The tall blonde woman in the power suit? Attorney, divorced from another attorney, sharing custody of their Shih Tzu. The elderly lady, holding the hand of a small girl? Grandma and her granddaughter spending the day together. Moving on, his eyes lit on a man standing just inside the door and he felt his whole body tense. The guy had on sunglasses, a ball cap pulled down low and a hoody, carrying a large duffle bag. Why would he need a hoody today? It was 80 degrees out. The only thing he could think of was he was hiding a weapon. His "spidey senses" were tingling. He searched for the bank's security guard, only to find another man dressed identically to the first standing right behind the guard. He pulled his cell back out, figuring he'd call it in to LAPD. If it was a false alarm, well, they didn't like him much anyway, so what was one more black mark against him? He turned slightly away from the two men to find a third standing between the bank of tellers and the customer service area. Damn, if he'd had any doubts, they were gone now. Just as he started to dial, the man by the door pulled out a gun and yelled "Everyone on the floor now! No phone calls! No one push the silent alarm or people will start to die!" The other two also pulled out guns and leveled them at the people in closest proximity.

Without looking, Deeks entered his agent in distress code on his cell and sent it. He would thank Hetty later for insisting he practice dialing it that way. He got down on the floor with the rest of the customers, glad he had left his service weapon locked in his glove compartment. It would have been too obvious under his t-shirt and might panic these men. The other two ushered the tellers and other bank personnel into the customer area where everyone else was sitting. The guy from the door pulled a bag out of the duffle, moved up to the sitting figures and yelled "Everyone turn off their cells and put them in this bag NOW!" Everyone moved to comply and he walked from person to person taking the proffered phones. Once done, he threw the bag into a corner. He pulled another bag out of the duffle.

"Now that I have your undivided attention, ladies and gentlemen, empty your pockets of wallets and cash and put it in the bag. The same with all jewelry." Once he had everything in the bag, he passed it off to one of the other men. "Now, who's the branch manager?" An older woman put up her hand. "Get up. You're going to open the vault now! Don't try anything or one of these people will pay the price. Understood?" The woman nodded her head and slowly got up off the floor. As the two of them started towards the back of the bank where the vault was located, they all heard the sirens. Deeks groaned, this was going to get ugly.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 _I DID! Stupid machine ate my stupid card. Now I have no money and no way to get any, other than standing in the line from hell!_

Kensi grinned, thinking about how hard it was for Deeks to stay still for any length of time if it wasn't for an op. Even at home watching television, some part of his body was always in motion. Of course, that worked out great for her as she got foot rubs and neck massages every night. He even liked to brush her hair. It had seemed like a weird request the first time he had asked, but she'd said yes when he said he found it soothing. She had had no idea how relaxing having someone brush her hair could be, nor how sensual. She would sit on the floor between his legs while he sat on the couch and ran the brush through her hair, tracing the path of the brush with his hand, lightly scraping his nails over her scalp. Her eyes went out of focus as she remembered how often it had turned into so much more.

"Earth to Kensi! What's going on in there?" Sam teased her.

She started, realizing she had no idea what, if anything, he had just said to her. "Sorry, Sam, I was miles away. Did you say something?" Kensi said, trying not to blush. She didn't want her teammates to know where her mind had just been.

"I asked if you know where Deeks is. He's late." Sam replied. She laughed.

"Yeah, he just texted. He had to stop at the bank and he's stuck in a long line that is, apparently, not moving quickly enough for him."

Callen joined in, laughing, "I hope no one in line with him has a gun. They might just shoot him!" They all grinned, knowing how enforced stillness drove Deeks insane. They all turned to look at the upper floor when Eric's whistle came.

"We have a case! It's an agent in distress call. Guys, it's Deeks!" Eric told them just before disappearing back into Ops.

The three agents looked at each other in confusion. "But he JUST texted me! How could he get into trouble so quickly?" asked Kensi.

"It's Deeks." Sam said. "That boy could find trouble in a convent." The three of them raced up the stairs. Inside Ops they found Nell, Eric and Hetty.

Eric turned as they came through the door. "The distress call automatically gives us the agent's location. He's at the Pacific National Bank on Wilshire."

Kensi nodded, "He literally just texted me he was at the bank and was running late. What the hell happened?"

"Just got something over the LAPD wire." Nell interrupted. "Robbery in progress at Pacific National Bank on Wilshire." Kensi felt the blood drain from her face. Leave it to Deeks to get caught up in a bank robbery.

"Mr. Beale, can we get eyes on the inside of the bank?" asked Hetty.

"On it!" he replied and turned back to his computer, working furiously. "Here we go, I'm tapped into their security system." he said as he put it up on the big screen. They could make out three armed men and about twenty civilians sitting on the floor, along with their Liaison Officer.

"LAPD is on the scene already, apparently someone called it in." said Nell. They could see the moment the people in the bank realized that the police were there.

"Bugger." said Hetty. This had just turned into a hostage situation with their detective smack dab in the middle of it.

"Nell, find out who from LAPD is running this operation and let them know three NCIS agents are on their way and that our Mr. Deeks is one of the hostages. The three of you, go to the scene, make sure you are on comms. Assist the LAPD in any way but do not let them botch this. Go! Make him safe!" To Sam and Callen, her last words were too reminiscent of the time Deeks had ended up in the hospital after being shot during a faked convenience store robbery. How did he always manage to be the one in trouble? It was like he was a magnet for it.

The three headed out the door, deciding to take Kensi's SRX. Sam's car only had two doors and no one wanted to be crammed into the back. However, neither senior agent would let Kensi drive. Sam took the keys using the excuse that she was too close to this to drive safely. In reality, it was because she was a horrible driver. Deeks was the only one who would ever get in the car with her behind the wheel. Sam made it to the scene in record time. He wondered for a moment if Eric had had anything to do with the fact that every light he approached turned green just as he got there. Something he would have to remember to ask about later. He parked just outside the perimeter LAPD had set up. The three of them jumped out and ran to the barricade only to be stopped by a young officer who wouldn't let them by, even when they pulled out their badges. "We need to speak to whoever is in charge!" snarled Callen. "One of my team is inside that bank."

The young officer radioed the information to the officer in charge. Shortly, an overweight balding man approached them. "I'm Lieutenant Saunders. I'm in charge here. What can I do for you?" he asked.

"I'm Special Agent Callen; these are Special Agents Hanna and Blye of NCIS. We're here to help. One of our guys is inside there. He's also one of yours. Detective Marty Deeks."

The other man laughed "Figures Deeks would be in the middle of something like this. Thanks for the information, you can leave now. LAPD has this under control and we don't need your help." he turned to walk away.

"We can make this an NCIS case and take over completely if you won't let us assist! We are _NOT_ leaving." retorted Callen.

Saunders turned back "You can try! In the meantime, run along."

Back in Ops, having heard everything over the comms, Hetty turned to Eric. "Mr. Beale, get me the Chief of Police at LAPD headquarters. Ms. Jones, get me Director Vance on the phone. We'll just see about this!" She stalked out of Ops. Eric and Nell exchanged a look; they would not want to be Lt. Saunders after Hetty talked to the two men in question. Turning back to their desks, they worked to comply with her requests.


	3. Chapter 3

Still don't own anything NCIS related except seasons 1-5 on DVD. Is it possible to wear out a DVD from watching it too much?

I love reading reviews, good or bad! If I feel that someone has made a good point about a weak spot in the story or that the character is acting OOC, I make sure I update the story accordingly. Thanks to everyone who has followed/favorited this story so far!

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Chapter 3

Deeks sat Indian style on the floor and carefully watched the three men, trying to gauge their reactions to the newest development. Not knowing their names, he nicknamed them Tom, Dick and Harry in his head. 'Tom' was the one standing by the door. He was the tallest and seemed to be the one in charge. He looked towards 'Dick', standing by the guard. He watched as Dick took the man's gun and radio, then herded him to the newly minted hostages. The guard didn't put up a fight, probably realizing it could end up with someone getting hurt, most likely himself. Deeks looked over at the last of the three, 'Harry', still standing near the customer service desks. He was the smallest and the most nervous. His gun was shaking in his hand. "That's not good." thought Deeks. He watched as Dick and Harry converged on Tom and started whispering. The little girl sitting behind him began to cry. He heard the older woman with her trying to calm her, but it wasn't working. She sounded as scared as the child. He desperately wanted to turn to comfort them but he needed to pay attention to what the men were saying. He was hoping he might learn something that could help get them out of this situation.

"Mom is going to kill us!" said Harry, just loud enough for Deeks to hear.

"Huh, brothers? Seriously? What, the family that steals together, stays together?" he thought. Tom's response was lost as the sobs behind him started to get louder. He was able to hear Dick say something about the fact that this wasn't supposed to happen. Deeks wondered what these guys had thought _was_ going to happen. They would waltz in here with guns, get the money, go home, crack open a beer and live happily ever after? Some people were really just beyond stupid. As he watched, he noticed Tom's eyes shift towards the sobs that were getting louder by the moment. The man took a couple steps forward and pointed his gun at a point just over Deeks's right shoulder. "Shut up! Stop crying! I can't think with all that noise!" he shouted at the girl. The sobs just got louder. Deeks shifted to the right, placing his body between the man and child. "What do you think you're doing?" Tom asked, lowering the gun to point towards Deeks's chest.

"Look man, yelling at her isn't going to help. She's just a little girl and she's scared, just like the rest of us. Let me talk to her, see if I can get her to calm down." Deeks asked.

Tom looked at him for a second and then gave a single nod of his head. "You can try, but if you can't make her stop, I will."

Deeks turned slowly to face the older woman and child he had been watching earlier, before everything went to hell. The child had her head buried in the woman's side, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed. The woman was patting her on the back but was crying herself and not making much headway in calming either one of them. He reached out and gently brushed a hand over the girl's head. "Sweetie, can you look at me?" She shifted a little to do as he asked. "That's better, now I can see your pretty face. What's your name love?"

She hiccoughed out "L..L..Lissy."

Deeks gave her his best smile and said "Lissy? That's a pretty name for a pretty girl! I'm Marty, nice to meet you." She smiled shyly, crying a little less. "Lissy, I know you're scared. We all are, but I promise I won't let anyone hurt you. Do you understand?"

She nodded then sobbed out "I want my daddy!"

He ran his thumb over her cheek, wiping away some of the tears. "You'll get to see your daddy soon."

He felt, rather than saw, the woman holding her shake her head no. He looked at her. "My son is a marine. He's stationed in Afghanistan right now."

Turning back to Lissy, he said "A marine? You must be very proud of him. One of my friends used to be a Navy SEAL, that's kind of like a marine, and he's one of the best men I know. Strong and brave, just like I'm sure your daddy is, right?" Lissy nodded, her tears forgotten for the moment as they talked about her dad. "Right now, I'm sure he'd want you to be brave and strong just like him. Can you do that?" She sat up a little straighter and nodded again. Deeks grinned at her "That's my girl! Your daddy will be so proud of you!"

Her grandmother said "Thank you, for both of us." He smiled at her too.

Turning back to Tom, he said "Look you guys. You haven't hurt anyone yet. You need to get out in front of this. Right now, you're looking at armed robbery and could get three to nine years. With good behavior, you could be out in one or two. If this turns into a full blown hostage situation or, God forbid, someone gets hurt, you're looking at a whole lot more jail time. Is that what you want?"

Tom frowned at him "What're you? A cop?"

Deeks shook his head no "Lawyer, Public Defender."

Tom looked him up and down, taking in his jeans and t-shirt. "A lawyer? You expect us to believe _you're_ a lawyer?"

Deeks pretended to be offended. "Hey, I'm on vacation. I just stopped in to get some money to take my girl on a romantic getaway up the coast. I didn't expect to be caught up in the middle of an armed robbery gone bad!"

Harry came up beside Tom and said "Maybe we should listen to him? This has gotten way out of hand!" Tom was quiet. He seemed to be seriously thinking about it. Deeks felt his hopes rise that this could end peacefully, with no one getting hurt. While they all waited to see what the decision would be, the phone on one of the desks started to ring.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Deeks asked.

Tom looked confused "Why would I answer the bank's phone?"

Deeks sighed, trying hard not roll his eyes. "It's probably LAPD. They're going to want to talk to you. Find out what you want, make sure everyone is okay. Don't you ever watch television or go to the movies? At worst, it's a customer and you tell them to call back later."

Tom looked over at the phone as it continued to ring. He looked back at Deeks and then motioned at him with his gun "You answer it. Put it on speaker so we can all hear what's being said. Don't try anything funny!"

Deeks got up and went to the phone. Picking it up, he put it on speaker. "Hello?" A man's answered "This is Lieutenant Saunders with the LAPD. Who am I speaking with?" Deeks closed his eyes in frustration. This day had gone from bad to worse and was now well on its way to absolutely freaking miserable. Saunders was the last person he should be talking with. The man hated him and would try to use this situation to his own advantage. He wasn't a negotiator; he shouldn't be the one calling.

Hoping for the best, Deeks replied "Attorney Martin Deeks. You're on speaker." He stressed the word attorney. Unfortunately for him, Saunders either wasn't smart enough to take the hint or just didn't care because it meant he was able to take a shot at him. Saunders reacted just as he feared.

"Deeks? Why the hell do they have you answering the phone? Why are you calling yourself…" He pushed the release button before Saunders could let the cat out of the bag that he was a cop.

'Why did you do that?" yelled Tom.

Deeks replied "I know him. He's not the one you should be talking to. He's just a self-serving cop who thinks he knows everything. You don't want to waste your time with him. He can't make you any promises or cut any deals for you. You need to wait for the real hostage negotiator to call."

Tom frowned and pointed the gun at Deeks's chest. "He sure seemed to dislike you. What's the story with you two?"

Deeks responded "I'm a Public Defender, remember? Who do you think arrests the guys I defend? So happens, I'm good at my job and most cops hate me. Saunders is one of the worse. He's sloppy and hates the fact that, more often than he likes, I get someone he arrests out of trouble because of it. I have never been able to figure out how he made it to Lieutenant."

Tom brought the gun up and pointed it at Deeks's chest again. "Okay, smart guy, what do we do now?"

"Now we wait."


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks to everyone for the reviews and follows!

 _ **Peter**_ _**Kuehn–**_ thanks for the warpath comment!

 _ **Hoosier65 –**_ thanks for the hurricane idea!

There are a lot of one sided conversations in this chapter but I love when you only get half and have to use your own imagination on what the person on the other side is saying. It's also a bit longer than previous chapters but things kept happening that I couldn't control. Bugger!

Again, own nothing but my thoughts and sometimes I wonder about them!

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Chapter 4

Callen watched Saunders walk back towards the LAPD Mobile Command Center through narrowed eyes, taking in the utter lack of urgency in his stride. As he thought about the way the man had seemed to take pleasure in the fact that Deeks was in a potentially dangerous situation, his lips compressed. Tapping his earwig he said "Eric, I need..."

Eric interrupted. "Already on it Callen. Hetty is on the phone with the Chief of Police now and Nell has Director Vance on the line, waiting for her to finish."

Callen looked at his team. "Gear up. Hetty's on the warpath! By the time she's done, LAPD will be falling all over themselves, begging for our help." Sam and Kensi smirked as they turned to head back to the SRX, their boss may be tiny but she was a force to be reckoned with. Kensi opened the back and then the secret compartment hidden under the floor. The three agents pulled out their NCIS Kevlar vests, thigh holsters and rifles. Once fully dressed, they turned and headed back towards the barricade, this time not willing to let anyone stand in their way. The young officer manning it watched three very determined and heavily armed federal agents heading back his way. He quickly decided he would rather face a dressing down by Saunders than try to keep these three away from something they obviously wanted badly. When they reached him, he simply moved the barricade and let them through without a word. All three gave him a nod and smile as they passed him.

Back at Ops, Eric had been on his way down to Hetty's office as he spoke with Callen. When he reached the bottom he stopped just outside. He didn't bother to hide his eavesdropping on Hetty's side of the conversation with Chief Henderson, as he waited to tell her Vance was on hold. "Yes, Chief Henderson, I understand that it's an LAPD operation. I am simply asking you to allow my agents to assist!"

"We are not trying to take over; we have an agent in that bank and want to be on the scene for him."

"Actually, he's our LAPD Liaison Officer, Detective Marty Deeks."

"No, I don't know how he manages to get himself into these situations all the time. It's something that baffles me as well."

"The Lt. in charge, Saunders was less than…"

"What? Well, thank you Chief. No, please allow me the pleasure of informing Lt. Saunders of your decision!"

Hetty looked at the receiver in her hand and frowned. Eric asked "Hetty, what's the matter? Are they still refusing?" It had sounded to him like she had gotten approval. Hetty placed the receiver back in its cradle.

"On the contrary, Mr. Beale, the Chief has given us full permission to be on scene and participate."

Eric was confused as to why Hetty was still frowning. "Then, what has you worried?"

Hetty looked up at him and said "He was adamant about us not being involved. He also seems to know our Mr. Deeks personally. He asked me; how does the kid keep getting himself into these things? When I mentioned Saunders was in charge of the operation, he did a complete 180 and gave us his full cooperation. I don't like it. No, I don't like it at all." She paused for a moment. "Mr. Beale, please do a full background check on Lt. Saunders, particularly anything to do with Mr. Deeks. Discreetly!"

Eric nodded and said "On it!" He started to turn away when he realized he had forgotten to tell Hetty why he had come down in the first place. "Director Vance is on line one for you. I've brought him up to date on the situation so far."

"Thank you Mr. Beale." Picking up the phone, Hetty punched the flashing light on the phone. "Leon?" Eric walked slowly up the stairs back to Ops, his ears straining to hear Hetty's side of this conversation as well. "Yes, our Liaison is, once again, in a pickle, but we now have the full cooperation of the LAPD in making this a joint effort. I just hung up with the Chief of Police. I might need your support should this operation require us to exert our federal authority."

"I've tried, Leon. He simply won't sign the paperwork!"

"I have! I even tried sneaking it in with some other paperwork that he needed to sign for me but, he's a _bloody_ lawyer! He reads every _bloody_ word, on every _bloody_ page!"

"He _laughed_ at me and said better luck next time! Cheeky bugger!" Hetty was smiling as she said this. The detective was, in fact, a cheeky bugger, but he made her smile. She loved the fact that he treated her as he did the others when it came to including her in their teasing banter. She knew all the agents had a healthy respect for her and would include her in certain situations, but they never teased her quite the way the shaggy haired detective did. She was pretty sure his "fear" of her was an act. He made her feel young again.

"Yes, we'll keep you apprised of the situation. Thank you, Leon."

Eric sped up and completed his walk back to Ops, having heard everything. He wondered what paperwork she and Director Vance were trying to get Deeks to sign. He hoped they were trying to get him to become a full time agent. Not knowing when he might be pulled into an LAPD op was taxing on the team and, when he was away undercover, they worried about him. The doors swished open and Nell turned to look at him in inquiry. "LAPD has agreed to let us participate and Director Vance is behind us." Nell sighed in relief and went back to watching the video feed from inside the bank, hoping to catch a good view of any one of the three men's faces in order to run facial recognition. Eric began his search on Lt. Saunders.

At the LAPD Mobile Command Center, no one stopped the NCIS agents as they made their way to the trailer. They looked official and had been let through the barricade without question, the second time anyway. Callen opened the door and the three of them silently filed in. They overheard Saunders half of a phone conversation, just catching the tail end of "Why are you calling yourself…" Saunders slammed the receiver down, "Bastard hung up on me!"

Callen was about to ask who, when that same question came from behind them in a musical female voice. "Who hung up on you Saunders?" The agents and the lieutenant all turned towards the voice. A very attractive older African American woman had entered the trailer behind the agents.

"Pauline. Took your sweet time getting here, didn't you?" said Saunders.

The woman scowled at him. "I got here when I could get here. Who hung up on you? You didn't call the men in the bank, did you? You aren't a trained hostage negotiator! That would be me! We've had this discussion about over stepping your boundaries before." It was fairly obvious the woman was pissed at the man standing defiantly in front of her.

Saunders turned towards the three NCIS agents, trying to deflect the woman's attention away from him. "What are you doing here? Who let you in? I told you we don't need your help and you aren't welcome here!"

In Ops, Hetty entered and asked Nell to dial the command center so she could speak with Lt. Saunders. Nell moved to do so and Eric's voice sounded in Callen's ear. "Callen, Hetty got permission from the police chief for your full participation. She's calling Saunders now." The phone behind the man in question began to ring.

The woman named Pauline moved to answer it but stopped when Callen held up his hand. "That would be for you Saunders." Callen quirked an eyebrow at his teammates and mouthed "Hetty" at them. They all turned to watch the show. Hurricane Hetty was about to set down on this command center and lay waste to the pompous fool in front of them. Hetty thwarted, was an F-2, extremely dangerous doling out extensive damage. Add arguing and posturing to the mix and she would increase to an F-3, devastating damage could, and would, be inflicted. Figure in that one of HER people was in danger, particularly when it was her favorite detective, she would be upgraded to an F-4, causing catastrophic damage. If he continued at his current pace, Saunders might well make her hit F-5, total destruction. The agents had yet to see an F-5, they were kind of hoping today would be the day. They listened to his side of the conversation.

"This is Lt. Saunders, LAPD."

"Who are you?"

"I don't care who…"

"The Chief of Police won't…"

"He did?"

"I don't believe…"

"I…"

"I…"

"I…"

"Okay."

Hanging up the phone, the man looked shell shocked. The agents could hardly laugh at him, they needed to work with the man and couldn't afford to antagonize him any further, but it was difficult holding it in. Callen heard a snigger behind him and turned back to the woman who had been arguing with Saunders. "And you are?" he asked.

"Pauline Tremont, LAPD Hostage Negotiator. Now, can you return the favor?" she held our her hand.

Callen shook it and smiled, he decided he liked this woman. "I'm Special Agent G. Callen of NCIS and these are…"

Pauline interrupted him, grinning. "Agents Kensi Blye and Sam Hanna?" All three agents were stunned. How could this woman possibly know their names? "You work with Marty Deeks, right" she asked. They nodded in agreement. "Why are you here? Where's Marty?" Pauline asked, scanning the small room, looking for the man she had just named.

"We're here because of Marty, Ms. Tremont. He's…"started Kensi.

Saunders interrupted "Your pet's got himself caught up in the middle of this, Pauline. He'll probably get himself or someone else killed in there!" he said with venom.

Pauline looked at him and said "You're an ass Saunders. You always have been and always will be. Marty is ten times the cop you will ever be! I have no idea how you got to the rank you are. Keep it up and we'll see just how long you stay there!" Apparently Mother Nature was not done with Lt. Saunders as Hurricane Pauline now had him firmly in her sights. What was it with Deeks and older women? He seemed to bring out the protective side in each and every one of them.

"As amusing as this is, we need to focus on what's going on in the bank." interjected Sam.

Pauline and the Lt. continued to glare at each other for a few more moments before Pauline turned her back on him and addressed the NCIS team and other LAPD officers working inside the trailer, totally ignoring Saunders. "What's the situation and how's Marty involved?"

Kensi responded "He just stopped into the bank on his way into work and happened to be there when the robbery started."

Another LAPD officer piped up "SWAT is working on getting a camera into the building so we can assess the situation. We need to determine how many gun men, how many hostages."

Callen tapped his earwig "Eric?" Pauline looked startled.

"We've been watching carefully, Callen, there are three men with guns, 17 civilians, 1 guard and Deeks, for a total of 19 hostages. No clear image for facial rec yet." Callen repeated the information to the assembled group.

The same LAPD officer asked "How could you know all that?"

Callen smiled at him, "We have our own ways."

The man frowned at him and Callen held out his hand "Special Agent Callen."

The officer shook his hand and said "Officer John Harwick." He appeared somewhat mollified and, truth be told, most everyone in the trailer felt better now that the agents had appeared to lend a hand and Pauline to do the negotiating. They all knew Saunders was all about himself and wouldn't hesitate to throw any one of them under the bus to cover his ass if he messed this up and someone got hurt because of it.

Kensi tilted her head at Pauline. "How do you know Deeks?"

Pauline smiled. "My husband and I have known Marty since he was fresh out of the academy. Spencer, my husband, was one of Marty's first partners during his rookie year. He became part of our family. Although, once he started undercover work we saw less and less of him. We see even less of him now that he's working with NCIS."

Kensi opened her mouth to defend Deeks when Pauline continued "Not to worry Agent Blye, we know he's happy where he is now and that he trusts the three of you more than he has anyone else in his life. We're all relieved for that." She rolled her eyes back at Saunders. Kensi smiled back at her. Pauline turned back to Saunders. "Ok, Saunders, did you manage to get anything out of the phone conversation you had before the man hung up on you?"

Saunders snorted "How could I? It was Deeks who answered, tried to pass himself off as a lawyer."

Sam stated quietly "He IS a lawyer."

The Lieutenant's eyes met Sam's. "No, he WAS a lawyer. He's now a cop, and not a very good one."

Sam started towards the man who stepped back, thinking maybe he shouldn't be poking at the very large, very angry man heading his way. Callen put his hand on Sam's chest "We already know this guy's opinion isn't worth the air he uses to make it Sam. Let it go and let's focus on getting everyone, including Deeks, out of this in one piece." Sam hesitated, then nodded. He would be keeping an eye on the man and, if he stepped out of line again or endangered anyone in this room or in the bank, Saunders would be dealing with one very angry ex-Navy SEAL.

Pauline watched the interplay between the LAPD officer and Marty's NCIS team. She nodded in approval. It was obvious that they had high regard for Deeks and would stand up for him. It was about time he had people like this at his back. Turning back to Saunders, she tried again. "I want to hear what each of you said, verbatim, do you understand me?"

Saunders shrugged and told them he had called the bank and a man had answered. He had introduced himself as LAPD and asked who was speaking with. "He answered _ATTORNEY_ Martin Deeks." using the same stress on the word Deeks had. He stopped there. Pauline and the agents were nodding in approval.

"Smart." said Callen.

"What? Why?" Saunders couldn't help but ask because he had no idea why they all thought this was a smart move.

"By answering the phone, we know that he already is working on gaining their trust. By introducing himself as an attorney, he's telling us what he is using as his cover. That his being a lawyer explains away his knowledge of the law and police work which will, hopefully, stop these men from figuring out he's a cop. He can use that knowledge to continue to get them to trust him and try to get them to give themselves up. We received an agent in distress call from him just as this went down so, by using his real name, he's also letting us know that he's okay." Callen answered. Then he realized, the last thing he had heard Saunders say before the fact that Deeks had hung up on him was "Why are you calling yourself…" He grabbed Saunders by the shirt front. "You almost blew it all by questioning why he was saying he was an attorney! You'd better hope that your stupidity doesn't get our friend killed or there won't be anywhere for you to hide!"

Kensi pulled him away, even though she really wished she could just take his place. "Callen, all this infighting isn't helping anyone." She turned towards Saunders and gave him her best glare. "Oh, and Saunders? What he said!"

Eric's voice sounded in their ears. "Uh, Hetty asked me to look into Saunders, to see if I could find out why he has such a problem with Deeks. Guys, he was Frank Scarli's partner for seven years!"


	5. Chapter 5

Not a lawyer, not a cop. So, forgive me if anything is OOC for them in this chapter. Let's just call it…creative license.

This is a long chapter that got away from me. I just couldn't find a natural breaking spot. Also, sorry if it seems derivative, but a good friend of mine is battling breast cancer right now and I found myself trying to find a way to work that nasty disease into the story, in a very small way.

Still don't own NCIS:LA or any of it's characters...woe is me.

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Chapter 5

" _Now we wait."_

"Wait for what?" asked Tom, clearly confused.

"We wait for the real negotiator to call and ask what you want." replied Deeks. "Have you thought about that or how you think you're going to get out of this? 'Coz I don't see any way that doesn't end badly for all of you. "

Deeks watched the three men carefully. Their body language told him they didn't have the first clue as to what they were going to do next. "Well, this was obviously a well thought plan." he thought to himself. "Not." The three moved a bit away and began talking quietly amongst themselves. He couldn't hear what was being said but it started to get confrontational fairly quickly. It looked like Harry was falling apart and the others were not having any luck getting him to calm down. As the conversation turned more heated, their voices rose. "We're totally screwed Luke!" said Harry. So, he had a real name for Tom now. He continued to watch them, trying to gauge the best way to deal with this.

"You know, you're going to need to give them something to show good faith when they call again. You might want to consider letting all the other hostages go. I'll stay behind." said Deeks.

"Let them go? Are you kidding me? They're our best chance!" said the one he now knew as Luke.

"Not really. This is one time when there is _no_ safety in numbers. With this many people in here and who knows how many out there, someone is bound to do something stupid. That could lead to someone getting hurt and your jail time goes up. If you just keep me, I promise I will work my hardest to get the best deal for you. Plus, the cops know me. They won't try anything while I'm in here if they think I'm in danger." Deeks said.

"I thought the cops hated you because you get people they arrest out of jail time?" jeered Dick.

"Yeah, but I'm still one of them. Love me or hate me, they won't do anything that leads to me getting me hurt." Deeks replied "Unless Saunders has something to say about it. I hope my team is either here or on the way" were the thoughts he didn't voice out loud. "Look, I get the feeling you never wanted to hurt anyone, let me work with you to make sure that doesn't happen!"

Harry looked at Luke and said "We should listen to him. He seems to know what he's talking about." Luke began to pace.

Deeks could tell he wasn't convinced. He had an idea that he hoped wouldn't backfire on him. Moving over to the rest of the hostages, he sat back down in his original place. "You already know my name and Lissy's. What are yours?" Luke shook his head no at the other two. Deeks turned to Lissy's grandmother. "What's your name?"

She looked at him and then at three of them. She seemed to come to a decision and replied "Miranda Simpson. My son's name is Brad, he would want you to know his as well." Deeks smiled at her and then looked around at the rest of the hostages but no one seemed to want to give up their name.

"Peter Turcotte" came suddenly from his right. Turning he nodded at the bank guard who had spoken.

"Maggie Hall" this from the branch manager the men had wanted to have open the fault.

Once the flood gates opened, the rest of the hostages started giving their names, each needing a connection to the people around them. When they had all given their names, Deeks turned back to the men in front of them. "Now, you know who everyone is. They're not nameless faces anymore. Each one of them has family and friends who are worried about them and waiting for them to come home. How are you going to feel if something goes wrong and Miranda or Peter gets hurt? How about Lissy? She's just a little girl and doesn't deserve this. None of us do!"

Luke stared at him. Harry and Dick both urged him to agree. Finally, he nodded yes. Deeks sighed in relief. "Ok, when they call back, we'll offer up a release in exchange for reduced jail time."

Luke responded "No way, we let them go, we walk free!"

Deeks just shook his head in resignation. These guys really didn't understand the trouble they were in. "The cops are never going to go for that. You tried to hold up a bank at gunpoint, you took hostages. There is no way you walk away from this with no consequences."

Luke responded angrily "We never meant to take hostages! We were just supposed to get in and out with the money as quickly as possible. No one was to get hurt!"

"No one _ever_ takes hostages on _purpose_ during a robbery, unless they have an agenda beyond just committing the crime itself. How do you think these situations happen? You can't control everything and this is how we ended up here. You need to understand the deep shit you are standing in right now!" Deeks replied. Luke's shoulders sagged. Looking at the other two for confirmation, he got nods of yes from both.

Dick said softly "It's over man. We aren't going to get the money. Now, we need to work on salvaging what we can out of this."

Luke nodded. "Ok, we do it your way but you better not be lying to us." he said as he pointed the gun at Deeks once again.

Deeks just nodded and said "I'm not lying." And he wasn't. He could tell these young men were in way over their heads and felt sort of sorry for them. As sorry as you can be for someone who's holding a gun on you. He was leading them through what would happen when the phone rang again. Luke nodded for him to answer.

He got up and picked it up, putting it on speaker again. "Hello?" A familiar voice came over the speaker

"This is Pauline Tremont with the LAPD. I'm a hostage negotiator. Who am I speaking with?"

Deeks smiled as he felt a weight lift from his shoulders. "Hey Pauline, it's Marty Deeks. You're on speaker" he responded.

"Marty? Are you taking on clients before they're even arrested now, Counselor?" she joked, letting him know that she was aware of what role he was playing.

"Well, not exactly. Look, these guys don't want to hurt anyone. They're willing to let the hostages go for a plea bargain. Anyone there who can make that happen?" he responded.

"We have an ADA on the way, she should be here soon." Pauline replied.

"Who is it Pauline?" he asked.

"Maura Carmichael's the ADA assigned to this."

Deeks looked at the three men standing anxiously behind him, listening to every word. "Guys, this is the best thing that could happen to us. Maura's one of the good guys. She'll help us without worrying about a personal agenda like so many other lawyers I know. We'll get the best deal we can from her" he smiled at them. He turned back to the phone and said "They'll let everyone go but me. I'll be staying here." He heard something that sounded like a "NO!" in the background and recognized Kensi's voice. That one word gave him a feeling of confidence. He knew if she was here, so were Callen and Sam. With his team on site, there was no way Saunders would be able to use this situation against him.

"We'll call you back as soon as Maura gets here Marty. It shouldn't be long" said Pauline.

"We'll be waiting." and he hung up the phone.

"You trust these people Marty?" asked Dick. Deeks immediately picked up on Dick's use of his first name, the connection between them was starting to build.

"Yeah, I do. I know both Pauline and Maura very well. They would never do anything to get someone hurt if there's any chance to get this settled peacefully and, we've just given them every reason to think that's exactly what's going to happen."

Dick looked at him and held out his hand "Chris Anderson".

Deeks shook his hand and looked at the other two. He held his hand out to Luke. "I'm assuming that makes you Luke Anderson?" Luke shot him a look of surprise and then took his hand.

Turning to Harry he asked "And you are?" Harry looked at Luke for permission and got a nod.

"Kyle Anderson" and put out his hand to Deeks who took it. It was sweaty and he was shaking but he was able to look Deeks in the eyes.

"I'll make sure this works out the best way possible, boys." Even as he said it, he realized these really _were_ just boys in front of him. He wondered what had led them to such a desperate act as bank robbery. Maybe he could find out once everyone was released. It might give him some insight into the best way to end this.

A short while later, the phone rang again and he put it on speaker. "Pauline? You're on speaker."

A new voice answered "It's Maura, Marty. How's everyone doing in there?"

Deeks responded "As well as can be expected Maura. Did Pauline fill you in on what we're offering? All hostages to be released but me and I'm voluntarily staying behind."

Maura sighed "You always had a martyr complex Marty. Release the hostages unharmed and I'll see what I can do."

Deeks looked at the three of them. Luke nodded and Deeks turned back to the phone. "Maura, they're going to be coming out in a second, one at a time. Make sure SWAT knows and no one gets any stupid ideas." Maura answered in the affirmative and they hung up.

Looking at Luke Deeks asked "Are you ready for this?"

Luke replied "As we'll ever be." Surprising Deeks, he looked down at the other hostages and spoke to them. "We never meant for this to happen and we're so sorry that you all got caught up in it. We hope you can forgive us one day." he went to turn around when a small voice sounded behind him.

"I forgive you." Turning back, he saw that his forgiveness had come from Lissy.

"Thank you Lissy." he replied in a choked voice.

Deeks smiled widely at her and said "That's my brave girl!" Lissy shakily smiled back at both of them.

"Ok, this is what we're going to do. I'll unlock the door and each one of you will go out, one at a time, with your hands locked behind your head. This way the cops will know you aren't armed. They may be suspicious that the gunmen will try to sneak out as one of the hostages. Chris, you are slightly shorter than me so you stand behind me while I let everyone out. That way you can see what's happening but they won't be able to get a good shot at you if someone takes into their head to do so. Does everyone understand this?" Deeks looked at the group sitting in front of him. They all nodded. "Ok, let's do this." Deeks walked over to the door and unlocked it. He opened it slightly and motioned to the closest person to him. "You first."

The man looked at him and said "Shouldn't we let the women and child go first?"

Deeks smiled at him, thinking it was nice to see someone thinking of others instead of himself in this situation. "Thank you for that! I think it will be easiest if we just move from left to right. No one is going to get hurt."

The man stood up and moved to the door. Before locking his hands behind his head he put out his hand to Deeks. "Thanks man! Not sure this would have turned out the same way if you hadn't been here." Deeks shook his hand and smiled. The man then locked his hands behind his head and stepped out. Waiting about twenty yards in front of him were armed SWAT team members. When he was swallowed into the men, Deeks motioned for the next person to come out. As each person came up, they all shook his hand and voiced some kind of thanks before heading out. The last one through was Miranda, with Lissy in her arms. "Marty, I don't know how to thank you for this!" She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

Lissy then threw her arms around his neck. "I want you to come with us, Marty! Please?"

He patted her back and said "I made a promise Lissy and I never break my promises. When this is all over, maybe we can all go out for lunch or ice cream somewhere? I might be able get my girlfriend Kensi to join us. She's as brave as you and your dad. I think you would like each other!" she smiled at him and nodded.

"Good luck Marty." said Miranda as she walked through the doors. He watched until they were swept away by SWAT, then closed the door and relocked it.

Turning to the three men behind him, he motioned them away from the windows. "Don't stand in front of the glass, just in case someone decides that they can end this by shooting you." They scrambled away. He followed them. "Why don't you take off the shades and hats now? We know each others names and it's not like I won't see what you look like shortly." He wanted to be able to see their eyes and the expressions on their faces during the next act of this really bad play. Once again, Luke was the one who gave permission. When they took off the hats and sunglasses, Deeks was stunned at how truly young they all were. "How old are you guys?" he blurted out.

"22" answered Luke.

"19" from Chris.

"18" lastly from Kyle.

Deeks just shook his head. "Why in the world would you try to rob a bank at this age?"

Luke, of course, was the one who responded. He was obviously used to taking the lead amongst the three brothers. "Our dad died in a car accident when I was 9. He didn't have much life insurance and they had little to no savings. My mom had to work two jobs to keep our house and put food on the table. As soon as we could, we all got part time jobs to help with the bills. Once I graduated high school, I got the best job I could, to help out. Chris did the same when he graduated. Mom was finally able to quit her second job and we were doing okay. Two years ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. We don't have the best insurance and the medical bills are crippling. Even with Kyle graduating this year, any job he gets is not going to be enough to even put a dent in them. Mom is going to lose the house! We thought we could just come in and get enough money to make it go away. No one was going to get hurt."

Deeks shook his head. "There are people you can talk to you, people whose job it is to help those in these situations."

Luke shook his head angrily. "We don't accept charity!"

"But you thought it was okay to rob a freaking bank?" Deeks asked in frustration.

Luke hung his head "We were desperate and didn't think it through. It always seems to work in the movies."

Deeks found he had no response to that. Even he was speechless. "Look, I know how it is to be broke beyond belief." he started.

Luke interrupted; his voice disbelieving and sad. "You? You're a lawyer. What, did broke mean you couldn't afford a second sports car?" Deeks thought about how much he wanted to share with these young men and decided, if it could cement the connection they had made, it would be worth it.

"My dad was a mean drunk. He beat my mom and me every chance he got. When I was eleven, he threatened us with a shotgun, saying we had ruined his life and he was going to make us pay. I shot him with a gun that a friend had given me for just that purpose. My mom ended up in the hospital after that and I ended up in a foster home. I hated it and wanted to get back to her so, I ran away. When I was finally able to get to the hospital, they told me she was gone. I went to our old house and there was no one there. To this day, I have never set eyes on her again. I spent the next several months on the streets, stealing food when I got so hungry I thought I would pass out. I spent nights sleeping in card board boxes, when I was lucky. I would go to shelters when I could but it's hard for a single child with no parents, they immediately want to call Child Protective Services for you and I didn't want to end up in another foster home. Eventually I was lucky, someone from the shelter took an interest in me and it helped to turn my life around. They found me a good foster home, where I was able to feel safe. I put myself through law school by working hard, doing jobs I would rather not have done, but I did them. So, yeah, I know what it's like to be so broke that I could see how robbing a bank would be seen as an option, but I was smart enough to know that you just don't get away with that!" He took a deep breath, realizing he hadn't talked about all of it with anyone except Ray, not even Kensi. He had only told her bits and pieces, afraid she would look at him differently. The three boys looked at him in shock, seemingly not knowing what to say.

The phone rang once again. Without asking, he went over and put it on speaker. "Maura?"

"I'm here Marty. All the hostages are fine and the ones I've been able to speak with are putting their backing behind you and, for some reason, the perps. How do you manage to get yourself into these things?"

Deeks grinned "It's a finely tuned talent."

She huffed on the other end. "Ok, based on the release of the hostages I can offer a reduced sentence of one year for each of them, provided none of them have an existing record. You know the minimum at trial is three. That's a good deal. With good behavior they could be out as early as six months from now."

Deeks looked at the three and nodded at them. "She's right, that's a really good deal. You need to take it as soon as possible before she changes her mind."

Chris and Kyle looked to Luke once again. Luke spoke up "What if I took full blame? My brothers only went along with this because I forced them to. I'm the one who came up with the idea. I'm the one who bought the guns. I'll take whatever punishment you want for me if you let the two of them go."

Maura responded "I'll reduce the other two to six months and give you three years. That's my last offer."

Kyle and Chris shook their heads no. "Come on Luke, we're all in this together. We're all going to do time, why should yours be the longest? You've done everything you could for us since you were a kid. Kyle barely remembers dad. It's always been you taking care of us, but we're not kids anymore. We're grown men now and we're not going to allow you to take this all on yourself." Chris said.

Luke looked at each brother, sighed and then nodded. "We'll take the one year each."

Deeks sighed in relief, this was just about over. "We'll be out in a minute Maura. Remember to keep an eye on SWAT." he was reaching out to hang up the phone when he heard a gun fire and felt a burning sensation in his right arm. Looking down at it, he saw blood begin to soak through the arm of his t-shirt. "What the…"

"Freeze! Federal Agents! Drop your weapons! Hands in the air!"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The NCIS agents listened to the conversation between Deeks and Pauline Tremont. He sounded good. When he got to the part about all the hostages, besides himself, being released, Kensi surged forward with a "No!" but Sam and Callen both pulled her back. Deeks and Pauline needed to be able to concentrate on what they were doing. Callen leaned down and said in her ear "Let it play out, Kens! You know Deeks may be flying by the seat of his pants, but it usually works out in the end. We have to trust him on this." She nodded sullenly. They listened as he talked to the men in the background about the ADA who was on the way. Pauline and Sam smiled at each other during this side conversation.

When Pauline finally hung up, Saunders burst into speech. "Did you hear your pet Pauline? We? Us? He's in this with them. I told you he was dirty!"

Pauline just shook her head at him and opened her mouth to respond. Sam beat her to it. "You really have no idea on how to deal with this type of situation, do you Saunders? He's getting them to trust him by aligning himself _with_ them. If they think he's on their side, he's more likely to get this to end with no one getting hurt! It's only because of him that the hostages are all being released!"

Pauline smiled at him. "You've obviously had some experience in this Agent Hanna. I see now why Marty respects you so much."

Sam looked at her in surprise. "He does?"

She smiled back at him "Yes, he has the utmost respect for all of you but, for some reason, it's you he looks up to the most." Sam smiled back at her, somewhat taken aback.

The door to the trailer opened and another woman hurried in. "Maura! Sorry to see you again under such circumstances." said Pauline. The NCIS agents turned to watch the slender red head as she came in. She wasn't exactly pretty, but she held herself with a great confidence that was very attractive.

"Hi Pauline. What do we have?" When Pauline told her about Deeks being one of the hostages, her response much the same as theirs, she just shook her head and said "That boy." even though they were pretty sure she and Deeks were of an age.

"He's gotten them to agree to release all the hostages but him. He's going to stay behind to be their spokesperson." added Pauline.

Maura smiled "He could charm the rattle off a rattlesnake. I just wish he had found a way to get himself out as well."

Pauline grimaced "It's Marty…" The NCIS agents found themselves nodding along with the ADA.

Maura turned to look at the three of them and said "You are?"

Callen answered "NCIS. Deeks is one of ours. We're here to offer whatever help you need to get him out safely." She looked at each agent, measuring them and then nodded, apparently satisfied with what she saw.

"I have the authority to make a decent deal for these guys if they release everyone unharmed. You all ready for this?" she asked. Nods came from around the room. Callen looked around and realized Saunders was nowhere to be seen.

"Guys?" Eric's voice sounded in his ear. "I have the information on Saunders. Not only was he Scarli's partner, Scarli is godfather to Saunders's two kids. Since Deeks caught Scarli as the dirty cop giving information to Ortega and then to Lasik, he's been telling everyone who would listen that Scarli was framed. That Deeks and Jesse Traynor were the real dirty cops. He's even filed complaints with IA against Deeks. None have been acted on as they're obviously bogus. I'm sending the particulars to your smart phones."

The cell phones of all three agents beeped at the same time. Pauline and Maura looked at them in with raised eyebrows. "Information is coming to us that might be helpful. If you could just give us a minute?" he replied in response to the expectant looks on their faces. He read through the data that had popped up on his screen and shared a look with Kensi and Sam.

All three turned towards the two women but it was Callen who spoke first. "Why in the world is Saunders being allowed to remain on this operation, knowing how he feels about Deeks? Why would he think Scarli was framed? We have him confessing on tape! All three of us were there. We _heard_ him confess! We have the bank deposits leading back to both men! Deeks was almost killed, TWICE, because of him! Jesse Traynor lost her life! What the hell is Saunders playing at?" His voice rose with each sentence.

Maura put up her hand. "Agent Callen, Lt. Saunders being here was not of our doing. He just happened to be the next one up for a case. I'm only too well aware of his accusations. He has a very high opinion of himself, which most others don't agree with. He refuses to believe that Scarli could fool him for so long, therefore, in his mind, it has to be false and Deeks has to be the one responsible. He's tried to get others on his side, but most know Marty is as straight an arrow as they come. They may not all like him, but they know he wasn't, and isn't, a dirty cop. Saunders has been reprimanded several times for this. It's one of the many reasons he hasn't progressed past Lieutenant. He is a mediocre cop at best, but he's not dirty and he will do his best to make sure no one gets hurt." Callen looked at her for a second and then nodded. He looked at Pauline and noticed that she did not seem as convinced. They watched as Maura called the bank to discuss a deal.

Once again, the three agents had to settle for listening in on an LAPD controlled conversation. They were all itching to do something, anything. Hearing that the hostages were about to come out, they headed out of the trailer with Pauline and Maura. They saw the door open slightly as Deeks appeared and the guns held by the SWAT team rise and aim at it, at him. They watched anxiously as the first man came through the door, pausing to shake Deeks's hand and then lock his hand behind his head, heading towards the SWAT team who were waiting to usher him to a waiting ambulance. As each person came out, they each paused to talk to Deeks before heading the same way. When an older woman carrying a child paused to kiss Deeks on the cheek, they all smiled. More proof that these older women all seemed to connect with him from the moment they met him. Their smiles grew as they watched the child throw her arms around his neck and he patted her on the back. The smiles faded as they watched him close the door again, with him on one side and them on the other. Maura and Pauline went back into the trailer to work on the next part of the negotiation.

Callen turned and walked out of ear shot, Kensi and Sam following behind. Once far enough away from all the LAPD milling around, he put a hand up to his ear bud. "Eric?"

The tech immediately responded "Here Callen."

Callen paused as he thought through what he was about to propose. He had a really bad feeling about this whole situation. "Eric, is there a back way into the bank?" Kensi and Sam looked at him in surprise and then both nodded their agreement.

"Yeah, there is. It's alarmed and has a pretty sophisticated lock on it."

Callen nodded even though Eric couldn't hear him. "Can you disable the alarm? If so, one of us can try to pick the lock. My gut is telling me this isn't going to go according to LAPD plans."

Eric paused and they could hear Hetty in the background "Get on it Mr. Beale!"

The three agents turned and nonchalantly walked away from the command center and past the barriers. The same cop was on duty and looked at them in surprise. Kensi put on her best smile and said "The hostages have been released. They don't need us for anything further." He nodded and smiled back at her, not even looking at the two men with her as he let them out.

Once away from the barriers, they quickly circled behind the bank, following Eric's directions. "Any luck with the alarm Eric?" asked Callen.

The response was immediate "Should be down in just a minute Callen." They could all hear typing on their comms. "Got it! You are good to go if you can get through the lock."

Callen looked at Kensi. "Got your lock picks Kens?"

She smiled "Never leave home without them!" and pulled the set out of one of the pockets of her vest and started on the lock.

Sam hovered behind her, catching Callen's sense of foreboding. "Can you pick it Kensi?" She looked up at Sam in frustration and told him to back off and let her work. It seemed to take forever.

After several minutes she said "I did it!" surprising herself, not that she would let either of the senior agents know she had had moments of doubt when she had seen the lock.

Callen said "Eric? We need you to track us and give us directions towards the main lobby from here. Find us somewhere we can watch from but where won't be seen. We won't be able to answer. We need to go in silent."

They all heard his confirmation in their ears. "I've found a break room on the plans, right behind customer service. You should be able to go in there and leave the door cracked. On paper, it appears to have a good view of the front lobby."

His hand on the door, Callen turned to his team. "We go in quietly. We wait and we watch. No one acts unless it looks like Deeks is in trouble. This could all be nothing." The other two nodded at him. He opened the door slowly; glad it was well oiled and made no sound. Kensi raised her gun and went in first, Sam following her. Callen went in last, quietly closing the door behind him. They followed Eric's directions until they found the break room behind the customer service area. They slid quietly into it and closed the door all but a crack. They could now see and hear most of what was going on.

They listened as Deeks talked to the gunmen, asking them to remove their disguises and then blurting out his question about their ages. They listened to the answers, stunned when they heard how young the three would be bank robbers were. They heard the boy's reasons behind the attempted robbery and heard him telling them the story of his own childhood. None of them had known all the things he was telling them, just bits and pieces he had revealed over the years. They listened to the ADA give the boys the plea bargain and heard them accept it. Callen lowered his weapon thinking that, for once, his gut had been wrong. Deeks had this under control and it was about over. He was as shocked as anyone when the gunshot sounded. The three of them exploded out of the break room and yelled "Freeze! Federal Agents! Drop your weapons! Hands in the air!"

They didn't know who was more surprised by Deeks's next action, the bank robbers or themselves. He flung himself in front of the boys, his hands in the air, blood dripping down his arm. "Stand down! Stand down!"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

" _Stand down! Stand down!"_

"What the hell Deeks! One of these guys just shot you, get out of the way. Now!" yelled Callen.

"No! They didn't take the shot; it came from the other side of the bank. It _wasn't_ one of them G!" responded Deeks, still standing between his team leader and the brothers. Both Callen and Sam spun around and aimed their guns towards the area Deeks indicated. Kensi kept her weapon aimed at the brothers, just in case. Deeks watched his team act without exchanging a word and found he could still be amazed at how well they worked together.

"They aren't loaded."

Deeks turned and looked at Luke, who had spoken. "What?!" asked Deeks, incredulous.

"The guns aren't loaded." Luke said again. "None of us has ever shot a gun before and we were afraid we might accidentally hurt someone." he added sheepishly.

Deeks turned and looked at Callen who just shook his head. "Then who shot you Deeks?"

Deeks sighed. "I have someone in mind, but even for him, it was an excessive move."

Sam looked over his shoulder at him "Saunders?"

Deeks hesitated and then nodded. "But it just doesn't make sense. Saunders is an ass and he hates me for bringing down Scarli. He's a mediocre cop at best, but one thing he is, is a crack shot. If he wanted to kill me, I'd be dead right now. It just doesn't add up." Thinking it through, he noticed movement through the glass.

"We're going to have SWAT in here in about 30 seconds. Someone had to have heard the shot out there." Making a sudden decision, he looked at his team lead. "G, take the guns into NCIS evidence and the boys into your custody. Don't let LAPD _near_ them until we document all the evidence!" he said. Callen looked at him in question but then just nodded, trusting his friend and colleague to have a good reason.

He nodded to Kensi, their forensic expert "Do it." She pulled out the evidence bags she always had stored in her vest and took the guns from each of the boys, quickly putting one in each bag.

Sam then moved behind them and gently zip tied their arms behind their backs. He put a hand on Luke's shoulder and said "Deeks will do everything in his power to make sure this works out the way it should. He's a man of his word. Anything he promised you, he'll follow through on." Luke hesitated and then nodded.

Kensi turned and walked up to stand next to Deeks. "How you doing, partner? How's the arm?"

Deeks smiled down at her "Better now, partner. It's just a flesh wound, nothing major." She leaned up against him for a moment, letting the touch tell him how glad she was he was still alive. Hearing a noise, everyone turned to look at the door to the bank. Behind the glass they could see two SWAT members. One kneeled down to work on the lock; the other protected him with a riot shield, in case someone inside the bank tried to stop them from entering by shooting the lock picker. Listening to the sound of the picks on the lock,

Deeks looked down at Kensi again. "Think we should just unlock the door and let them in?"

Kensi smirked up at him "Nah, why ruin their fun?" He laughed.

"Be ready, they're about to come through!" said Callen. Each agent reached for their badges.

The lock finally picked, SWAT burst into the room, guns aimed at them. "LAPD! Put down the weapons!" said the SWAT leader.

"Federal Agents!" responded Callen, each agent holding up their badge in plain view. The man looked at each and then said to his men "Stand down."

He lowered his own weapon and focused on Deeks. "Detective Deeks."

"Sergeant Kowalski." Deeks replied.

Callen tensed, thinking here was yet another cop who had issues with their Liaison Officer. He just didn't get it; Deeks was an excellent operative and a great team member, at least he was when he was at NCIS. He'd trust Deeks with his life so why was LAPD so different? He watched the confrontation carefully, keeping an eye on all the SWAT team members. Suddenly the SWAT leader smiled and clapped his hand on Deeks's shoulder. "Glad to see you're ok kid!"

Deeks smiled back and said "Good to see you Sarge! How ya doing?"

Kowalski laughed "Can't complain, can't complain. How you doing, other than being shot, AGAIN?"

Deeks looked at Kensi, who was still standing by his side and then back at him. "I'm doing good, real good!" he responded.

Kowalski looked back and forth between the two of them, understanding what Deeks was telling him. He smiled and said "Dee and the kids keep asking about you. We haven't seen you in way too long. How about coming by the house for a barbeque soon, bring a friend…" he looked at the other two agents and nodded at them "…or three."

Deeks grinned and said "Name the date and time, Sarge, we'll be there."

Kowalski looked at his men. "Well, looks like we missed the party boys. Time to pack it up." He radioed the all clear in, then turned back towards the agents and asked "Who's in charge?"

Callen stepped forward. "That would be me."

Kowalski eyed him and decided he liked what he saw. "Sergeant Al Kowalski." he held out his hand.

Callen took it "Special Agent G Callen." They shook hands.

"Mind telling me what's going on here _Special Agent_ G Callen? How did you guys get in here before us?"

Callen hesitated and then decided to tell the man the truth, as much as he could. "We have a great tech support team. They were able to turn off the alarm on the back door and one of my team picked the lock. We wanted to be as close as possible to Deeks, to protect him if something went wrong. Lt. Saunders didn't seem overly concerned that Deeks was in here and we were, um, concerned about his safety. We heard the shot and came out of cover to do whatever we needed to."

Kowalski nodded his understanding of what Callen didn't come right out and say. "Looks like the kid has a good team covering his back. Lt. Bates has mentioned it to me in passing, I see now that he was right." and he smiled. Callen smiled in return.

Deeks started to relax. This was going to be okay. Suddenly the door opened again and Saunders sauntered in, Officer Harwick in tow. "Good work Kowalski. We'll take it from here. Harwick, take these men into custody. They shot a cop; the deal they worked out with the ADA is off the table."

Callen stepped in front of the man. "Sorry Saunders. These men are already in NCIS custody. This is a federal matter now."

Saunders started to turn red. "We agreed you would be here to assist only Agent. This is still an LAPD operation and these men are mine!"

Callen shook his head. "We agreed that the bank robbery was under LAPD jurisdiction. A federal agent was shot and federal agents were first on _that_ scene, that makes the shooting federal jurisdiction and it takes precedence over the attempted robbery. These men go with us!"

"He's not a federal agent, he's a cop! And, as I told you before, not a good one! He's dirty and has you fooled just like he has so many others at LAPD!" Saunders yelled at Callen.

Sam had had enough and started towards the man, lightly brushing up against Deeks injured arm as he started to move past him. Deeks dramatically yelped, pulling Sam's attention back to his friend. Deeks swayed in place, causing Sam to fear that the shot wasn't as minor as he had made it out to be. He reached out to help him only to have Deeks whisper to him "He's baiting us Sam. He's trying to get one of us to do something he can use against us, against me. Don't give him the satisfaction!" Sam looked at him, gauging what the younger man was saying and how injured he was. Deeks smiled at him. Sam smiled back and turned back to watch the action. Saunders appeared disappointed and turned his attention back to Callen.

As Callen and Saunders argued over jurisdiction and who got to take the men into custody, Sam moved away from the group of men watching the argument like a tennis match. Once he felt he was far enough away that he wouldn't be overheard, he tapped his earwig. "Eric?"

The tech responded right away "We've been watching on the security cameras Sam, but there's no audio. What's going on? Is Deeks ok?"

Sam quickly assured the tech that his surfer buddy was fine and then brought up the reason he had contacted him. "Eric, the boy's guns weren't loaded so they didn't shoot Deeks. Obviously, we didn't. So, there had to have been someone else in the bank. Can you check the cameras and see if the shooter is still here? If he isn't, check the footage for the back door from the time we came through until the shot was fired. We left the door unlocked as a possible escape route. See if anyone came through it after us."

"On it!" Eric started sweeping the bank to look for any other presence. Nell began looking through the previous footage for the back door. "Sam, there's no one else in the bank that I can see. There are cameras everywhere except for the bathrooms. If there's anyone other than you guys in there, that's the only place they could be."

Nell broke in "Got him! A little over two minutes after you guys went through the back door, another man entered. He had on an LAPD ball cap and uniform but he kept his head down so we can't identify him. All I can tell you is that he's a white male and it isn't Saunders. Wrong, um, body mass. I'll keep following him to see if we can get a look at his face and confirm he's the shooter."

"Thanks Nell, Eric. Let us know as soon as you find anything." Sam moved back to the group, where Callen and Saunders were still arguing. Well, Saunders was arguing, Callen was just being his normal stubborn self, not giving Saunders an inch. While the two men argued, Sam watched the rest of the cops in the room, wondering if the shooter was now in the group in front of him. His eyes landed on Harwick, noticing that, while everyone else in the room was fascinated with the two men going head to head, his attention was focused solely on Deeks. He had a feeling he had just found Deeks's shooter. Now the question would be, why?

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A/N – This chapter kept going (and going, and going) and I had to split it into two before it got too crazy. FYI, this isn't how I originally pictured the story turning out. However, as I went along, Saunders seemed too obvious a suspect, as several reviewers also noticed. Hope you like the new direction I took. Let me know either way!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N - thanks to Sprig for catching the typos between Harwick and Hawkins. I had both names in mind and, when I settled on one, I guess my brain didn't tell my fingers. I think I caught them all now but just in case, it is supposed to be Harwick.

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Chapter 8

 _Now the question would be, why?_

Eric's voice sounded in all their comms. "Guys, Sam asked us to find out if anyone entered the bank after you. Nell found him and followed him to a supply room at the end of the customer service area. It's accessible from both the back hallway and the front of the bank. The guy went into the room and shot Deeks through the front facing doorway. When you guys breached, he used the distraction to leave again. We finally caught a glimpse of his face as he was running back out. He's there in the room with you. He's the only guy in uniform!" All three agents swung their weapons up and aimed them at Harwick. Saunders started sputtering but Harwick knew exactly what was going on and drew his gun, aiming it at Deeks.

"Put down the weapon Harwick, or I will drop you where you stand!" said Callen.

"What the hell is going on here?" yelled Saunders.

"Your boy here was the one who shot Deeks. We have him on video footage. The question now is, why?" Sam replied. Kensi looked at Deeks to gauge his reaction to a fellow cop shooting him, expecting to find anger and disappointment. Instead she found only resignation and sorrow. What was there between the two men?

Deeks stepped forward and Kensi tried to stop him. "It'll be ok, Kens." he said. She searched his eyes and nodded, removing her hand from his arm.

"Harwick, don't do this. Think about what you're doing." Deeks said.

"You ruined everything! It was so perfect and you ruined it." Harwick snarled back at him.

Deeks sighed "You know why we broke up. You know I only did what I had to do." Three startled eyes turned to Deeks but he didn't notice; his attention fully on Harwick as the LAPD officer asked

"How could you break up with her? She was so wonderful! I would have spent my life taking care of her but no, she wanted you! And you, you stole her from me, used her, broke her and then threw her away! You're the reason why she's in that hospital! Did you even know she's still there?" Harwick was panting by this time.

Deeks nodded his head "Yes, I know she's still there. I call and talk to her doctor every couple of weeks. He can't tell me anything about her case, but he can tell me if she's okay and if she needs anything."

Harwick looked stunned. "You do? Why would you do that?"

"John, I cared about her too. I just couldn't be with her anymore. You know she was unstable long before you or I came into her life. Other complaints against her were found on file during discovery, from other guys she had been in relationships with before us. You KNOW this!" Deeks replied.

Harwick's gun wavered but then came back up to point at Deeks. "It doesn't matter, she shouldn't be in that place; it's awful!"

"John! If she wasn't in that hospital, she would be in jail for attempted murder! She's lucky the knife deflected off my ribs so that it missed my heart or it would have been premeditated murder and she would have ended up in prison for life instead! Sylvia's in the best place for her right now. You have to accept that!" Deeks pleaded with the man, trying desperately to get through to him. "What did you hope to accomplish? Killing me wouldn't get her out of there or change the past."

Harwick looked confused "I just wanted you to pay. To pay for what you did to her. I couldn't believe it when we found out you were trapped in here with the other hostages. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to make you suffer. I could take care of you and then alter the evidence to make it look like it was the perps who shot you. " Deeks sighed. Obviously logic and facts weren't getting through to the man. Listening, Callen realized this was why Deeks had insisted NCIS take custody of the men and the evidence. He had feared something like this would happen; only he had suspected it would be Saunders, not Harwick. He hadn't even known Harwick was on the scene.

Callen spoke up "How did you know the back door was unlocked? "

Harwick finally looked at someone other than Deeks. "I noticed you didn't come back in when the hostages were released. You left, even though Deeks was still inside. Based on your earlier defense of him, I didn't think you would just leave him there. I waited and watched. When you disappeared behind the bank, I followed. I watched her pick the lock and then all three of you go in. I waited a couple minutes and tried the door myself. When I found it still unlocked, I knew it was meant to be. I found the supply room and was able to see Deeks through the door. I meant to kill him, I did. At the last second I couldn't do it and ended up only shooting him in the arm." the last sentence was spoken in a whisper.

Deeks took a step towards him. "John, we can figure this out. You need to put down the gun. There is no way you get out of here alive if you start shooting. Take a look around! You have 3 heavily armed federal agents and LAPDs best SWAT team pointing guns at you. What do you think the outcome of this is going to be? If you're dead, who watches out for Sylvia?" Harwick slowly lowered the gun, Deeks words finally getting through to him and realizing there was no way out of this except surrender or death. He had basically confessed to attempted murder of a fellow cop in front of witnesses and nothing else he did would help the love of his life. Deeks walked up to him and gently took the gun from his hand.

"John Harwick, you're under arrest for the attempted murder of Detective Martin Deeks." said Kowalski as he cuffed his fellow officer.

" _Assault_ of a police officer, Al." Deeks quickly said. Kowalski opened his mouth to argue but knew Deeks only too well, as laid back as he was, he could be as stubborn as a mule. There was no way he was going to let them charge Harwick with anything except the lesser offence of assaulting a police officer.

"Assaulting a _federal agent_." chimed in Callen.

"G, no. I'm still officially a cop. This wasn't a federal case when he assaulted me. I didn't have federal agent status at that time." Deeks replied, not even looking at his team leader.

Callen sighed, he too knew Deeks well enough not to argue. If it had been him Harwick had taken a shot at, he would have had him charged with everything he could think of but Deeks, well, Deeks was Deeks. "Fine, have it your way." Callen nodded at the SWAT leader.

Kowalski said "Very well. John Harwick, you are under arrest for _assaulting_ a police officer." he continued on to read the man his rights and then handed him off to one of his subordinates. "Johnston, take him out to the van. We'll be transporting him to the precinct for booking." Turning back to the federal agents, he nodded towards the Anderson boys. "What about them? We now know that they didn't shoot Deeks, so they should be remanded to LAPD custody."

Callen looked at Deeks who nodded. "Yeah, you can have them. Make sure they stay safe and get the deal Deeks worked out for them. Otherwise, you'll be answering to us and to my boss. You've already had a run in with her today, you don't want another."

This last was aimed at Saunders who blanched a little as he remembered the conversation with Hetty Lange earlier in the day. Saunders nodded to Kowalski. "Take them in, deal is as it stands."

"You lied to us!" Luke said angrily, as LAPD started to usher them towards the door.

Deeks stopped the officers and looked him in the eyes. "About what?"

Luke responded "You said you weren't a cop, that you were a lawyer!"

Deeks looked at him. "I only half lied. I am a cop but I am also a lawyer. I didn't lie about that and I didn't lie when I told you I would work out the best deal for you. I followed through on that, didn't I?"

Luke thought about it and nodded. "But still, you tell us you're lawyer, then we hear you referred to as a cop and then as a federal agent. Which is it? Lawyer, cop or federal agent?" he asked in confusion.

Deeks looked at him "Um, yes?"

Luke frowned "What does that mean? That isn't even an answer!"

Deeks smiled "I'm all three. I was a lawyer but I quit. I hated being too late to help people. I kept up my license so, technically, I am still a lawyer. I went to the academy and became a cop. A couple years ago, a little ninja lady offered me a job as the Liaison Officer between LAPD and NCIS. When I'm on duty with them, I take on federal agent status. When I'm working for LAPD, I revert back to cop."

Luke seemed to accept Deeks's explanation but said "I've never heard of anything like that."

Deeks laughed "Most people haven't." He nodded to the officers that they could now take the boys out to the waiting van.

Kensi handed the evidence bags containing the guns over to another member of the SWAT team. She turned to Deeks. "Would you care to explain what that was all about between you and Harwick?"

He opened his mouth to make a snarky answer but then thought the better of it. Every one of his team members were like bull dogs, there was no way they were going to let this go. Instead he sighed and said "I'll fill you in when we're back at the Mission."

"What? No way! We want to hear THAT story." this came from Chris, who apparently didn't understand he was under arrest and wasn't in the position to make any demands. Deeks opened his mouth to say so when he realized the cop escorting Chris was nodding his agreement. Everyone had stopped and was waiting to hear the background of why a fellow office had tried to kill him. He sighed. He supposed they were due an answer, after all, they had been put at risk today due to the history between him and Harwick. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to decide the best way to start.

"I met Sylvia Gray about six years ago, at the precinct.." he started.

Kensi interrupted "She's the one…"

He nodded at her, "Yeah, we'll get to that in a minute." Starting over he said "I met her at the precinct, I hadn't made detective yet so was there most every day. We literally bumped into each other. I almost knocked her over. We started talking. She told me she was there to give a statement about a mugging she had witnessed and we just hit it off. We ended up going out for coffee. What I didn't know was that she had lied to me. She was dating John Harwick at the time and had actually been there to see him. I didn't know him although, later, I realized I had seen him around the precinct. He was younger than me and we weren't under the same commanding officer. She told me she was single. She was fun, she was pretty and she was smart. We enjoyed each other's company. One thing led to another and we started dating. I found out later that she broke it off with Harwick that night, telling him she had met someone else, even gave him my name." he took a deep breath, this was where it was going to get hard.

"We were dating about six or seven weeks when she started to get weird. If I didn't answer my phone on the first ring, she would want to know where I was and who I was with, accusing me of being with someone else. Same thing with texts. If I didn't respond within seconds, she would be calling me. If I wanted to go out with other friends and didn't include her, she would cry, asking me why I didn't want to include her, why I didn't want to spend time with her, asking me if I was ashamed of her. She would make _me_ feel bad for wanting to spend any time away from her. She started following me on those nights when I insisted on going out without her. One night she showed up at a buddy's house where a bunch of the guys were just hanging out and playing poker. She embarrassed the hell out of me in front of them. That was the end of it for me, so I broke it off with her. I tried to be gentle, told her I just wasn't ready for a long term commitment. Then the real trouble started. My tires were slashed twice; my front door spray painted with obscenities, my mail would disappear. I knew it was her but I couldn't prove it, there were no witnesses. Then, someone broke into my apartment and trashed it. This time, one of my neighbors saw her, but, at the time didn't think anything of it. She had seen Sylvia and me together before. She just figured Sylvia had a key to my place and was legitimately there. When Mrs. Chin heard about what had happened, she immediately let me know. She gave a statement to the police and I was able to take out a restraining order against her." here he stopped, unconsciously rubbing a hand over his chest.

He looked up to find all eyes on him, clearly enthralled with the story. "Go on, what happened next?" asked Kyle.

Deeks shook his head, how in the world had he gotten himself into a situation where he was relating an uncomfortable time in his life to 3 federal agents, 4 SWAT team members, 3 criminals and a cop who hated him. All the while standing in a bank where he had just been held hostage for hours by said criminals. He would bet that he was the only person in the history of law enforcement who could make that statement. Unbeknownst to him, everyone in Ops was also hanging on his every word through the comms. He felt a hand take his and looked down to find Kensi smiling at him encouragingly, although, she too, couldn't hide her curiosity as to how the story ended.

"I thought the restraining order had worked. I didn't see her for several weeks and the harassment stopped. I casually dated and went out with friends, some of whom were women. I had been out surfing one Saturday and my friend Jennifer, a fellow surfer, and I decided to do some night surfing. She came by my place later in the day to pick me up. Sylvia had seen me with her before and fixated on Jen as the real reason I broke up with her. When we went to leave my apartment, she was waiting with a knife. She went for Jen, but I stepped between them. She drove the knife into my chest up to the hilt. As I said, it deflected off my ribs and just missed my heart. Jen screamed and Sylvia ran. I found out later that Jen did the worst possible thing she could do. She pulled the blade out and I nearly bled to death before the ambulance could get there."

"Wait, why was that the worst thing she could do? Wasn't she helping you?" asked Kyle.

Sam absently replied "No. Keeping the blade in place actually helps to stem the flow of blood and, if the blade is removed by someone who doesn't know what they're doing, they can inflict even more damage."

Deeks nodded. Chris said "Huh, that actually makes sense."

Deeks thought "Great, now this story is turning into a learning opportunity? Really?" He continued "I woke up in the hospital after they performed surgery to repair the damage. I spent almost two weeks there, recovering. While I was there, they found and arrested Sylvia. She was combative and raving, so they had her committed to a psych ward for evaluation. She was determined to be delusional and not able to stand trial. She was finally committed to PCH Treatment Center on Venice Blvd. She's been there ever since. Harwick has always blamed me for everything that happened to her, but, until today, he kept it out of the workplace. That's it, that's the story."

There was silence for a moment and then... "Dude, that sucks!" said Kyle. Everyone started to laugh and the tension was broken. The SWAT members took the brothers out, talking amongst themselves about the story Deeks had just told, comparing bad dating experiences of their own, the Andersons contributing their two cents. Kowalski looked at Deeks "I knew most of the story kid, glad to see it didn't have a worse ending today. I'll talk to Dee and set up that barbeque. You had better ALL show up." He said, including the federal agents in his glare. They smiled and nodded. It would be interesting to interact with someone on LAPD who didn't hate Deeks. See if they could worm some other stories out of the man who obviously had a strong affection for their Liaison. Kowalski followed his men out of the bank.

That left Saunders, who started to say something but stopped when he realized he was outnumbered. He huffed out a "Hmph" and followed SWAT.

"Ready to go get that wound checked out bro?" asked Sam.

Deeks looked surprised. He had actually forgotten he was shot during the confrontation with Harwick. Now, it was starting to make itself heard and he was in pain. "Yeah, but NO hospital! It's only a graze." he stated. His team laughed, they knew how he hated hospitals and would do anything to avoid them. They walked out of the bank together, his hand still in Kensi's.

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A/N – there will be an epilogue that will give some back story to Pauline and her relationship to Deeks, as well as some follow up on other characters.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N 7/24/15 - this was originally the end of the story but several people had asked what happened to the Andersons so, this is now the _second_ to last chapter.

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Chapter 9

Kensi pulled Deeks along towards the waiting ambulance. The closer they got to it, the more he protested that he was fine, that he didn't need medical help. He wasn't even bleeding anymore! Finally, Kensi stopped, put both hand on her hips and said "DEEKS!" glaring at him. She then pointed her finger towards the ambulance. "March!" His shoulders slumped and he shuffled towards it. Sam and Callen started laughing, although both knew they would have had the same reaction as Deeks.

"Our Mr. Deeks doesn't like being poked and prodded by people in the medical profession, does he?" came a voice behind the two agents. They both jumped and turned to find Hetty standing behind them.

"How long have you been here Hetty?" asked Callen.

"Long enough, Mr. Callen, long enough. " replied Hetty. She watched as Deeks settled onto the back step of the ambulance and the EMT started to work on him, Kensi hovering at his side, being more of a hindrance than a help, not that either man seemed to mind the presence of the beautiful brunette. "He did well in there. I wonder if it would have turned out quite so well without him. Although, he probably wouldn't have been shot if he hadn't taken on the role he did. Mr. Harwick may not have known he was in there until it was all over and done with."

"Hetty, he could hardly have known Harwick was on site or that he would go so far as to try to kill him! Besides, it was us that let the cat out of the bag that he was one of the hostages." replied Sam.

"I'm not saying otherwise, Mr. Hanna. It's just one of life's little jokes on us." Hetty smiled at him, pleased that he had stood up for their Liaison.

Sam turned serious. "Hetty, how much do you know about Deeks's childhood?"

"Why do you ask, Mr. Hanna?" she asked, answering his question with a question.

"He told those boys some things about himself that he's never shared with us. It sounds like he had it a lot rougher growing up than the things he _has_ told us would lead us to believe." he said. Callen nodded in agreement.

"Yes, Mr. Hanna, he did indeed. Mr. Deeks's dislike of hospitals and being under the care of medical personnel was earned the hard way. Anything else you wish to know, you will need to ask him." Hetty replied, confirming that she knew more about Deeks than they did, but that she would respect his privacy.

Sam opened his mouth to ask more when they heard a commotion over by the barricades that LAPD was busily breaking down.

"Deeks!" someone bellowed. All three turned to see a large Caucasian male barreling their way. He was a striking older man, with a full head of salt and pepper hair and a mustache to match. He had several LAPD officers scuttling along in his wake.

"Oh bugger." said Hetty. Sam and Callen turned to look at her, Callen's eyebrow quirked. "Chief of Police Henderson." she responded in answer to their unspoken question. They watched as the man headed their way.

"Miss Lange." he said.

"Chief Henderson, good to see you again." Hetty replied.

"Yes, yes. Good to see you too." he responded absently, his eyes searching the area before finally lighting on Deeks sitting in the ambulance. "Damn it." and he moved on without another word to them.

Sam started to follow him, wanting to be there for the detective in case the Chief of Police did anything other than praise Deeks for how the situation had been handled. Hetty and Callen moved with him, all wanting to provide a united front in defense of their friend and colleague.

"Detective Deeks, would you care to explain how you managed to get yourself into the middle of a bank robbery and then get shot by a fellow officer?" Henderson roared when he reached the ambulance. Kensi stood as tall as she could and moved closer to Deeks's side, ready to tell this man to back off, no matter who he was.

Everyone was startled when Deeks just stood up, grinned at the man and said "Hey Spence, what can I say? It's a God given talent!" and was engulfed in a bear hug by his Chief of Police.

"You need to stop doing this boy! You take years off my life every time I hear you've been hurt!" the chief said to him.

Sam and Callen looked at Hetty. "Did you know he was so in with the Chief of Police, Hetty?" asked Callen in confusion. Based on how many of the LAPD officers they had encountered over the years treated Deeks, they would never have suspected this.

"No, Mr. Callen, I did not. Neither one of them ever let on that they knew the other personally. That is, until today, when I informed Chief Henderson that Mr. Deeks was one of the hostages and Lt. Saunders was the lead. This explains why he reacted as he did, changing his mind about our participation in this case. Although, I doubt even he could have predicted that Mr. Harwick would take the actions he did." she replied.

"Agent Callen, Agent Hanna, I told you that my husband was one of Marty's first partners when he graduated from the academy and that he was family. Why would you be surprised at their relationship?" asked Pauline, who had come up behind them in time to overhear the conversation.

Callen responded "Deeks doesn't talk much about his early days at LAPD. Hell, he doesn't talk much about his current days there. Lt. Bates is the only one he's ever really spoken about. He never mentioned that he knew the Chief of Police personally and we never connected you with him. Different last names and all."

Pauline looked surprised and then smiled. "Yes, I could see why he wouldn't mention it. Marty has never been one to use his relationship with Spence for any special favors. Although there are many in LAPD who believe otherwise, no matter what is said. They feel he made detective too quickly. Some refuse to believe that Spence wasn't responsible for that, that it wasn't because Marty is excellent at what he does. It's caused issues for both of them over the years. As for our names being different, this is a second marriage for both of us and I never bothered to change my last name. I was well established in my career under the name Tremont and it just seemed easier to leave it that way. Spence doesn't care one way or the other."

"So, Ms. Tremont, how long _have_ you known Deeks?" asked Sam.

"Pauline, please. It's going on eight years now." she replied.

Sam looked at her with a speculative glint in his eyes. "What was he like back then?"

Pauline chuckled. "Are you trying to get me to tell you embarrassing stories about Marty, Agent Hanna?"

"It's Sam. No, just wondering what he was like, if he's changed over the years since you've known him."

Pauline hesitated and then said. "It would have been hard for him not to change after what that Russian bastard did to him. He isn't quite the jokester he used to be, but, as I told you earlier, we've seen less and less of him over the years. Spence and I have talked about it, not sure if he's just busy or drawing away from us for some reason. It worries us both."

Looking back at the man under discussion, they watched the interplay between Deeks and Henderson. It was obvious there was genuine affection on both sides. "I don't think he has been drawing away from you, Ms. Tremont. A lot of what he works on for NCIS is classified and he can't talk about it. Also, between LAPD and us, he is a very busy man." Hetty said.

Pauline sighed. "I just wish he would take better care of himself." She smiled at the three standing with her. "I'm so glad I finally got to meet all of you. I feel better knowing that he works with people who care about him and will protect him. I think he's found a home with you." The three smiled back at her.

"Hetty?" Deeks had just noticed that Hetty was on the scene.

She moved closer to him and asked "How are you doing Mr. Deeks?"

"I'm fine Hetty. Just a graze, doesn't even need stitches!" he replied. This statement earned a hmph from the EMT standing next to him. Hetty looked at him questioningly. He just shook his head and let it be.

"You did well in there, Mr. Deeks." she said as she turned back to him.

"Um, thanks, but I didn't do much besides talk. I'm good at that!" he smirked as he replied. Turning serious, he said "Hetty, can I ask you a favor?"

She nodded. "You can certainly ask Mr. Deeks, I can't guarantee anything, however."

They walked a little ways away from the rest as he quietly spoke, leaving the Hendersons and the agents talking amongst themselves. He looked a little concerned. "Not to worry, Mr. Deeks, I don't think the Hendersons will be telling any tales on you." Hetty assured her detective.

"It's not Spence and Pauline I'm concerned about!" he said worriedly.

He turned back to her and continued asking his favor. She smiled as he outlined his request. Leave it to her Liaison Officer to be thinking of someone else after having been held hostage and shot. She nodded at him. "I will do my utmost to grant you that favor, Mr. Deeks. It would be my pleasure. Now, I don't expect to see you at the Mission until tomorrow at the earliest. Ms. Blye can take the afternoon off with you, to make sure you are as good as you say you are."

He smiled back at her and grabbed her in a hug "Thank you Hetty! You're the best."

She wiggled out of his grasp and said "Cheeky bugger." but she was smiling as she said it.

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The next afternoon, Deeks and Kensi were having lunch with Miranda Simpson and Lissy, just as he had promised the little girl. As he had expected, Kensi and Lissy had hit it off, even though Kensi insisted that she was not good with children. She encouraged Lissy to talk about her dad and told her stories about her own dad, telling Lissy that he had also been a marine. They were just finishing up the ice creams they had all ordered for dessert when Deeks phone chimed that he had a text message. Looking at it, he smiled.

 _You are all set Mr. Deeks. Please have everyone at the boat shed in the next half hour. Everything should be ready by then._

He knew if anyone could have pulled this off, it was Hetty. Looking up at the three people watching him, he tried his best not to grin. "Miranda, that was my boss. I hate to ask this, but would you and Lissy be able to come with us to answer some follow up questions about yesterday?" Kensi frowned at him, she wasn't aware of anything NCIS could possibly need from these two but she kept quiet, trusting that Hetty wouldn't be asking if it wasn't needed.

Miranda looked at her watch. "How long so you think we'll be Marty? I told Lissy's mom that we would be home by 2:00 and it's 1:30 now."

"I doubt you'll make it by 2:00 Miranda. Could you let her know you'll be later? Maybe closer to 3:00?" he replied.

She nodded and sent a text to her daughter-in-law. She got a response quickly. Looking up, she smiled at him "She's fine with it. She says she'll see us when we get there." Deeks grinned at the woman's choice of words. He was looking forward to the next couple of hours.

"Let's go then, you can follow us to the boat shed." he got up and paid the bill, forestalling Miranda, who had had every intention of making this outing her treat. He and Kensi got into her SRX, her driving per usual. "Don't forget they're following us Fern. If you drive like you normally do, we'll lose them for sure.' Kensi just punched him in the arm. Luckily, it wasn't the injured one. He just smiled at her.

"What's going on Deeks? Why does Hetty need to talk to the Simpsons?" Kensi asked.

"Not sure, I guess we'll find out when we get there." was his response. She looked at him, knowing he knew something more, but allowing him the conceit that he had her fooled. For now.

Once they reached the boat shed, he ushered Miranda and Lissy inside, almost giddy with the knowledge of what was about to happen. When they entered, Lissy squealed "Mommy" and ran over to a young woman who held out her arms to her. In addition to Lissy's mother, Sam, Callen, Hetty, Nell and Eric were waiting for them.

Introductions were made all around, the NCIS personnel meeting Lissy's mom, Karen, for the first time. Then Miranda asked "Why are we really here? Why is Karen here?"

"That would be me!" said a voice from the plasma screen.

"Brad?" breathed out a shocked Miranda.

"Daddy!" yelled Lissy, wiggling out of her mother's arms and running to the screen where her dad was on video from Afghanistan. She put her hand on the screen. "I miss you daddy!"

Brad Simpson put his hand out to mirror hers and said "I miss you too pumpkin! What's this I hear about you being a brave girl yesterday?" The others in the room smiled as Lissy regaled her father with the whole story of being in the middle of a bank robbery. Deeks's name came up several times. Like all children he interacted with, the little girl was totally smitten with the shaggy haired detective.

"Detective Deeks? Thank you for keeping my mother and little girl safe yesterday. I won't forget it." Brad Simpson addressed Deeks, who blushed.

"I didn't do anything special, Corporal Simpson. It's us who should be thanking you for your service to our country." Deeks said, trying to deflect the marine's thanks. They smiled at each other and let it be.

The NCIS personnel moved away from the plasma, letting the women have some private time with their marine. Sam looked at Deeks. "This was your doing, wasn't it Deeks?"

Deeks shook his head. "I don't have that kind of pull Sam. It was Hetty who made this happen."

Hetty refused to let the detective off the hook. "I did it at your request Mr. Deeks. I don't know if any of the rest of us would have thought about doing this after having just been shot. Please don't make any less of it than it is!" Everyone else nodded in agreement. Sam put his arm around Deeks's shoulder and gave him a squeeze. He knew from experience what it meant to be separated from his family during war. How you missed them so badly and looked forward to every little word from home. If someone had done for him, what Deeks and Hetty had done for the Simpsons, he would have been beyond grateful.

"You did good Shaggy" he told the detective.

Deeks grinned, pleased at the praise from the big man next to him. For some reason, praise from Sam had a bigger impact on him than it did when it was from anyone else.

"Thanks Sam. That means a lot coming from you. Now I just need to figure out how I can make sure the Andersons don't lose their house. I've got feelers out to a couple buddies and agencies I know that help people deal with the debt that comes from a catastrophic illness. With the boys in jail, their mom is going to need all the help she can get."

Sam just shook his head. "Let me know if I can help."

The others, having overheard him and Deeks, chimed in, also offering any help they could give. Deeks smiled. Looking around the room at his 'family' he felt truly at peace for the first time in a very long while.

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A/N – hope it wasn't too sappy but I wanted something upbeat and it just seems like something Deeks would do.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N – the last chapter was the original ending to this story. I had several people ask for a follow up on the Anderson brothers and that got the hamster running. So, to get him off his wheel, here goes nothing. Hoping it's not too neat...

Happy belated birthday Ali!

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Chapter 10

Six months later

Deeks paced back and forth. Fifteen steps one way, look at his watch, look at the gate, turn, fifteen steps back, turn and repeat. Kensi knew it was fifteen steps as she had taken to counting. She wondered if he even knew it was exactly the same number of steps before each turn. She smiled as she leaned up against the SRX, watching him. The Anderson brothers had served six months of their one year sentence and all three were being released today for good behavior, just as they'd hoped. Kensi and Deeks were here to pick them up and take them home. They were supposed to have been out fifteen minutes ago and Deeks was stressing about it but, as she said to him over and over, these things take time. She thought back over the last six months since that fateful day Deeks decided to stop at the bank to make a withdrawal.

Somehow, Deeks had gotten the entire team, plus Nell, Eric and Hetty, involved in the Anderson's lives. He had started taking the boy's mom, Barbara, to her doctor's appointments and treatments. They didn't have a car and he was adamant that she was not taking the bus to get around, especially not to her chemo appointments. They tired her out and made her feel nauseous. He didn't want her sitting on a bus afterwards. The first time Deeks couldn't make it, he had drafted Kensi. The rest of the team had slowly followed suit until all of them were taking turns, except for Kensi that is. Unbeknownst to her, Barbara had asked Deeks to _not_ ask Kensi to take her again after that first time, stating "I'm not going to survive cancer just to die in the car with Kensi! She's a horrible driver!" Deeks had laughed and agreed with her. He ensured that Kensi was still involved by helping in other ways but always made sure she wasn't the one driving Barbara anywhere. So far, Kensi hadn't noticed. If she had, she would have been vocal about what good a driver she actually was.

They had all found Barbara to be a kind and gentle but, surprisingly, strong woman. She had been angry with her sons for doing what they did but also sad that they had felt so desperate because of her illness.

Deeks had worked with several advocacy groups and lawyers who specialized in helping people with huge debt due to catastrophic illness. As of now, the Andersons were no longer in imminent danger of losing their home. The mortgage company had been willing to work with them, once the right people had been contacted. There was still a long road ahead of them as Barbara was still ill and the debt was ever increasing. At least now she had one less worry while trying to get better. Deeks had promised her he would continue to help her for as long as it took, the others had told her the same.

Deeks had pulled some strings and managed to get the three brothers into the same cell. Their fourth roommate was twenty year old Stevie Parks, who was doing a year for robbing several liquor stores. Luke had told Deeks about him, saying that he was a good kid who had made a bad decision similar to theirs. Unfortunately, he didn't have someone like Deeks in his corner. That was enough to get Stevie on Deeks's radar and the young man didn't know what to make of the fact that he was now in Deeks's orbit.

Deeks had asked Luke how he'd come up with the idea to rob a bank and how he'd seemed to know just what to do and say, had seemed so confident until the police had arrived and everything had gone south. After hemming and hawing, Luke'd finally admitted that he'd pieced it together from various movies and television episodes. Unfortunately, none of them had shown him how to deal with nervous hostages and a cryng child, with police with rifles standing outside the bank. That's when he'd lost it and pointed the gun at Lissy, something he would never forgive himself for. Deeks hadn't tried to dissuade him, a gun pointed at a crying hit a little too close to home for him. He hoped the feeling lingered forever and that Luke would remember it should he ever be tempted to do anything so _stupid_ again.

Luke and Chris had both lost their jobs, for obvious reasons. No employer could be expected to hold a position open for anywhere from six months to a year while their employee sat in jail and then have a convicted felon return to the workplace. Besides, it wasn't like either job was highly skilled; their employers were able to fill the positions immediately. The whole team had been working on making sure the brothers had some sort of work lined up when they were finally released.

Luke had started working in the auto mechanic shop under the inmate vocational program. He had found he had an aptitude for it and really enjoyed working with cars, something he hadn't been able to do growing up. Sam had a buddy, Todd, who owned a shop and had often helped Sam work on Charlene and was now helping him with the new, as yet unnamed, Challenger. Todd had agreed to take Luke on as an apprentice. He was an ex-con himself and knew how hard it was to get a job with a criminal background. If it worked out, he would mentor Luke and help him get his ASE certification. The pay was decent and the shop wasn't too far from the Anderson home.

Chris had tried out several different things under the program but hadn't found anything that really struck him as something he would like to pursue as a career. He had confessed to Deeks that he liked working with numbers and Deeks was in the process of researching grants/scholarships for ex-convicts who wanted to go back to school to learn a new trade. What exactly that would be, hadn't yet been decided. In the meantime he would be working as the Assistant Night Manager at Sandune Convenience Store on Culver Blvd. Deeks was still friends with the owner Frank, even though he didn't see him as often since the day he had been shot in the store. He had been a little hesitant about hiring a young man fresh out jail, but Deeks had gotten permission for him to interview Chris at the prison and Frank had walked away impressed with him. The position sounded good on a resume but was, in reality, just a glorified night clerk position responsible for restocking shelves, taking inventory and manning the cash register, plus it didn't pay much. The store wasn't as close to home as the auto shop, but it was right on a bus line which was helpful until the brothers could get a car. With Luke working at the shop, he would have access to cheap, well serviced cars and was already talking payment plans with his soon-to-be new boss. Working at night would allow Chris to attend school during the day when they found the money and he knew what he wanted to do.

Kyle had graduated with his high school class, figuratively speaking. For the first time in their relationship, Deeks had used his connection with the Chief of Police for a favor. The entire NCIS team had been cleared to pick up any assignments Kyle needed to do for his classes. They had also been allowed to bring him tests and monitor him while he was taking them. It had taken some pressure from Chief Henderson to get both the principal of Kyle's high school and the warden of the prison to agree, but eventually, they had. The brothers were well behaved and Kyle worked so hard on his class work, that a couple of the guards had started to get involved, quizzing him before tests. With no distractions at night or on the weekends, Kyle's grades had actually improved. He didn't know what he wanted to do once he was released and, for now, he would be responsible for helping his mother around the house. They would work on finding him a job once everyone was back into a normal routine and he had had a chance to think about it.

The day his class was graduating, Deeks had gotten permission to use one of the interview rooms to meet with all three, along with Stevie, at the same time, under the guise of his being one of their attorneys. He had brought in a cake and ice cream for the occasion. The guards had looked the other way when the entire NCIS squad, plus Barbara, had trooped in with Deeks, several of them carrying contraband. When everyone had had their fill, Kyle had asked for the left overs to be put in the guards break room, as a thank you for the help he had been given. All four had been warned not to mention any special treatment to any of the other inmates. Everyone had left full and hopeful about the future, especially their mother.

True to their experiences with Deeks and older women, Barbara Anderson had fallen under his spell pretty much the minute he showed up on her doorstep, explaining who he was and how he was going to help. Although at first she had resisted having him help her, deeming it charity, Deeks had charmed his way around all her protestations and she had now pretty much adopted him as her fourth son. When she had met Stevie; that number had grown to five. When Stevie was released, he was going to live with the Andersons and help out with the bills once he found a job, something Deeks already had on his agenda. That would give Stevie a good home environment, as he sure didn't have one now, and it would help out the Andersons.

One afternoon, when Deeks had left to go take Barbara to an appointment, his NCIS friends had talked about him, trying to figure out what it was about the Anderson brothers that had struck such a chord with him. It wasn't like this was the first time he'd run into young people who had made bad decisions. He had never become so involved with any of _them_. What was it that was so different about these three?

Hetty had proposed that he saw them as younger brothers he had always wanted. Or, perhaps, he saw himself as a father figure who could help them move towards a better future, as his own father had not done for him. Once the laughter had died down at the thought of Deeks being anyone's father figure, Sam had playfully suggested he was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. Kensi just shrugged and didn't offer an opinion. Truth be told, she'd already had this discussion with Deeks and even he didn't know the answer. Finally, Nell had just stated that he was simply a nice guy, trying to do what he always did, help people. The conversation stopped when the man under discussion returned to the Mission. Nothing had been determined other than that they were proud of their Liaison and happy to help whenever, wherever they could.

Kensi's musings, and Deeks's pacing, were interrupted when the gate to the prison finally swung open and they walked out into the sunshine. Deeks rushed over and said "Where have you been? Did you run into any trouble? Is everything okay? You were supposed to be out a half hour ago!"

The others all laughed at his frantic questions and he blushed. Luke reached out to give him a hug and said "Relax bro. There were a couple guards who stopped by to say good bye and good luck. We had a hard time getting away!" He stretched his arms up to the sunshine and tilted his head back. "It is SO good to be on the outside!" His brothers copied him and all sighed with relief, big smiles on their faces. They were going home.

Deeks smiled. "Come on, let's get you guys home. Your mom's waiting for you." The brothers moved to the car, the smiles leaving their faces when they noticed Kensi move to the driver's side door. They had all been regaled with the tale of their mom's one and only ride with Kensi. They each looked imploringly at Deeks, their eyes trying to telegraph that they didn't want her to drive. He laughed and said quietly, so Kensi couldn't hear, "Suck it up boys! I do this pretty much every day and I'm still alive. She was kind enough to come get you, don't you dare hurt her feelings." The last was said with no hint of laughter in his voice. The brothers finally nodded and got into the back seat of the SRX, each immediately snugging their seat belt around them as tightly as they could. Deeks just shook his head, got in the front passenger seat and said "Ready Kens?" She nodded and, as she pealed out of the parking space, he casually reached out for the handle over his door and braced his feet. He didn't even notice he had done it.

The ride to the Anderson home was over quick, with only a few gasps from the back seat. The brothers had done their best not to back seat drive but they were out of the car almost before it stopped. Deeks wondered that one of them didn't drop to the ground and kiss it. Really, was her driving that bad? Or had he just gotten used to it? It didn't seem out of the ordinary to him anymore. Except in extreme cases, like when there were pedestrians in the area, crosswalks, red lights, stop signs, sharp corners, other cars. He stopped his train of thought right there, afraid he wouldn't be able to get into the car with her again if he continued. The brothers raced up the stairs and burst into their home, yelling "Mom?"

"Surprise!" was the reply. Comically, they all stopped short at the same time with identical stunned expressions on their faces. In the front room, under a Welcome Home banner, stood their mother, surrounded by friends and family, including everyone from NCIS, Todd and Frank. Even Miranda and Lissy Simpson were there, along with Brad and his wife. Brad was home on leave for a short while and had asked if he could join the party. He and Deeks had met up when he returned so that he could thank him in person for keeping his mother and child safe. They had talked about what had happened and how Deeks was helping the Anderson family. Brad had been angry at first. After all, they had pointed a gun at his little girl, loaded or not. Deeks had gradually been able to get him to accept that the brothers weren't bad men, just badly misguided. Brad and he had ended up becoming friends. It turned out Brad like to surf as well and they'd met up several mornings for an early ride.

The brothers carefully hugged their mom, afraid to hurt her. She hugged them back as hard as she could. Her boys were home and she was surrounded by friends and family. She was determined to beat the cancer and live a long and happy life, but knowing her boys had the support network they now did, gave her peace of mind should the unthinkable happen.

Deeks watched the reunion of mother and sons somewhat wistfully. Both his mom and dad had been out of his life for so long, and even when they had been there, it was not a happy home. He hadn't had any family until he joined NCIS and even then, it wasn't flesh and blood. He shook his head at himself. His flesh had beaten him bloody more times than he could remember. This warm feeling of being _picked_ to be part of a family was good enough for him. He felt Kensi press up against his side, silently communicating that she knew why he was so quiet. He looked down into the beautiful face that was smiling up at him and had a moment's vision into the future, their future. He saw a little ninja assassin with her hair and eyes. The feeling it gave him was overwhelming. He had never thought to feel that kind of happiness and it awed him. He smiled at her and she gave him a questioning look. He shook his head at her, now was not the time to have this discussion. It was still a little too early in their relationship but, have it they would. He pulled her into the group surrounding the brothers and they got into the spirit of the party. Good friends and family, gathered to celebrate a special event in the best way possible. Simply by being together.


End file.
